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bcos4life: It's Miller time

| 03:11 PM ET  04.17 | The Colorado Avalanche drafted Matt Duchene. They traded away Ryan Smyth. The long tenured leader and all time leading scorer hung up his skates. All they had between the pipes were career backups. The Avs were primed to finish in the bottom 5 of the NHL. It was a forgone conclusion and many (myself included) watched most of the season with the intension of seeing "what the future looked like." Well that future is now, and it is knocking on the doorstep of NHL history. The league's youngest team just stole home ice advantage from a #1 and don't look like they want to stop this season yet. When I saw the opening season roster I had many thoughts: Duchene AND O'reilly? Two teenagers? Who the heck is Craig Anderson? Foote is getting a little long in the tooth to be getting the C now. Give it to Hejduk or Stastny... I started watching the season and I, along with the rest of the hockey world, kept waiting for the collapse. Duchene, after getting off to a slow start, became a leading canidate for the Calder. O'reilly showed that he is the future of the "3rd line center" in that he is fearless, good on faceoffs and can focus on the PK. Chris Stewart went from 4th line bruiser, to Lake Erie Monster, to Toast of the league. T.J. Galiardi showed that his real name should be T.J. Galeleo with his ability to be an NHL renissance man. He is scoring goals, killing penalties, blocking shots, hitting people, and doing all the little things that are neccessary. JM Liles went from top defensman to Healthy scratch to the eraser and top D scorer. And Craig Anderson went from career backup to Vezina trophy nominee. All the men I just gushed over... are under 30. They are the future of this league and the NHL is about to get a rude awakening. As sad as it is to say, Footer is nearing the end. Some think this may even be his last year. But no one, and I mean NO ONE else in the league could have captained this team better. Foote has shown how to lead by example and in the locker room. When Duchene gets the "C" next year, Foote will look at him as a proud father. Hejduk is soon to be the grey beard of the Avs and who else has a better grey beard? Even in an injury riddled season, he still got 20 goals to continue his amazing streak. Clark is prob in his last campaign as a member of the Wine and Blue, the once inteligent, shot blocker isn't quite moving like he used too. Ruslain Selei just isn't cutting it anymore and is probibly out the door as well... But with the end of a career such as Foote's, marks the beginning of another. The top Calder canidate for the 2010 campaign has to be Kevin Shattenkirk. He would have been in the Avs top D pairing this year, but he was busy leading BU as there captain. With him shooting the puck and directing the plays, Ryan Wilson will be on the other side, channeling his inner "Footer" and beating the beJesus out of opposing players... Bright Future in the Rockies. And it wouldn't hurt to take notice.